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Well, it's 15 days since our last blog and so much has happened.
We hauled out on the 6th. and all went well until we realised that they were taking the boat way down to the far end of the haulout area as far as we could get from Popeye Marine and their workshop!! This was in direct contravention of our earlier arrangement with the marina where we understood we would be placed quite close to Popeye. There was a small power boat just stored there and they had been going to move that to make way for us. So, grudgingly they eventually agreed to move it as promised and then move us. This was done after 3-4 days (nothing happens quickly in Thailand!).
Aside from that annoyance everything else has been going swimmingly. Popeye (Des Kearns and his wife, Ked) have been wonderful and the work started in earnest from day one. They have a great and competent team who have been with them for some time and who are well used to the work necessary in successfully refitting a yacht. Their engineer is Wit who speaks almost no English but he has removed the propellor shaft and both Cutlass bearings (which support the shaft) so that they can be renewed. The shaft will also need some machining which he will organise in Pukhet. Apparently in the last big job they did at Satun he moved 2 large Caterpillar engines over a metre and then connected everything up again so he's a knowledgeable and competent engineer. Our stuff is extremely small beer for him! Wit will also be involved in repairing the stainless steel which was damaged when "Kealba" collided with us in Indonesia. Then we also have Seart who is their carpenter removing all the old wooden teak plugs over the nails that fasten the deck onto the Kauri substrate and the deck beams and replacing them with new ones. They don't have a suitable plug cutter but they've modified a hole saw to cut them out and wrapped sandpaper around a drill bit to clean up the holes they are going into. Great modification and adaptability expertise which is typical of most of Asia.
There is a husband and wife team of Yoon and Ning who are expert painters - quite up to superyacht standard. But no mention of painting would be complete without mentioning A (pronounced Ay). A is a Thai woman who is wonderful - always cheerful and extremely competent. Jim said something about sanding the round surface of the mast and she gently told him that she needed no instruction in how to sand or paint! We were going to pull the mast out but once they realised all the issues surrounding that (although they have pulled many masts before and it is reasonably straightforward) they decided that they could sand and paint it in situ. A had never been up a mast before but it seemed as though she'd been doing it all her life. She seems to quite like being in the bosun's chair up there. Jim hoisted her to the top on the UPS halyard using the windlass. Then the drill was to gradually lower her down as the work progressed. We are now at the stage of having 1 top coat on the mast and 2 on the hull. One more on each and then that part of the job is complete. The mast is of course timber and is keel stepped.
We have stripped and sanded the varnished toe rail and there is more varnish sanding to do as well as the coachroof but that will have to wait until the team have finished their painting to avoid the dust. But everything is happening and at a reasonably fast clip. Still got the refrigeration to check out and a few minor matters re the engine but we can see the end in sight.
We are enjoying the lifestyle here. We are living in our apartment (which is one room and a bathroom with no cooking facilities) and feeling like locals. The apartment, which is a studio is one of several above a convenience store in a modern building called "Be Rich"!! We commute to the boatyard every day in our rental car - just like going to work, except that no-one is paying us! We are 12 kms from the boatyard and generally the roads are well behaved but sometimes there are myriads of motorcycles and some with sidecars. It's common to see whole families on one poor little 125cc bike - older child just behind the handlebars, father driving with Mum on the pillion seat holding a very young baby, often by one hand. You also see utes crammed with people in the back. You just hope they never hit anything and stop suddenly because then the carnage would be horrific. There is a small village we drive through on our way to the boatyard and, although some houses are a bit rickety, often there's a late model ute parked out front. Everything is clean and neat.
The first time we went into Krabi Town was to make our number with Customs, Immigration and the Harbourmaster. It was the usual bureaucratic exercise with having to answer questions like what sort of cargo are we carrying, deadweight, etc. and of course to all of those we just put "n/a" but it's a fair old rigmarole. Krabi Town is very touristy but attractive on the banks of a river and we have been there 2 or 3 times now. It's roughly a 30 minute drive from here mostly on a dual carriage motorway which takes you past Krabi International Airport. There are 2 supermarkets also on the way in - Big C and Tesco. Both part of malls with many smaller specialty shops as well. But it is very difficult to identify a type of shop that you might want. We needed some plastic tubing and so were looking for a hardware shop. But all the shop signs are written in Thai which might as well be Hebrew as far as we are concerned. And there isn't any such thing as Bunnings or Mitre 10; apart from supermarkets the shopping is mainly small individual shops and difficult to identify. And there is the language problem. It is rare to find anyone who speaks English other than a smattering and when it comes to anything even slightly technical - forget it. We gave up in the end and will try and clean the tubing we have. It's a breather from one of the water tanks.
Apart from that the heat is quite debilitating. After about 10 am. it's too hot for us to work so when we need to do anything we need to start about 6. Jim sanded 2 quite small areas the other morning and his shirt was soaking; you could have wrung it out!
We have found a great Thai restaurant about halfway to the boatyard and are now regular patrons. Sometimes eat there and sometimes takeaway. It's lucky that it's there as we have no cooking facilities in our studio. We had a light lunch there today (Saturday) and it cost 215 Baht (NZD7.68). We had a full main course each and coffee and fruit juice. There's also a seafood restaurant which is in a small village on the riverbank even closer to the boatyard and it's a rickety structure built out over the water. But it must have been there a long time and it seems like being way back in time just being there.
Tonight we are having dinner with Stephan who is the owner of a large Jeaneau - "Julianna II". She is also hauled out here and Stephan and Wendy have been back in Australia for a while. Wendy has gone on to Europe to see grandchildren and Stephan is here for some work on the boat - the usual story! We have introduced him to Popeye who may also be able to assist with jobs to be done.
Jean has been engrossed with Facebook pictures of Peapod (alias Carter) who looks so cute. We have the time at the moment to use Facebook so we must do what is necessary to see Charlotte and Rozanne's children there as well. Lucia, Elsie, Harry and Callum. We are such dinosaurs when it comes to this sort of thing!
Well, on that note we will depart - for now. We're sure that you have read enough - until next time!!
Lotsaluv from us.......
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Krabi Boat lagoon Hardstand
Krabi
Thailand
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Saturday 17 May 2014
Friday 2 May 2014
Fwd: Krabi Boat Lagoon Lat. North 8 degrees 00.7' Long. East 98 degrees 57.7'
----- Original Message -----
To: "2XS - Peter & Marguerite" <pjheadlam@hotmail.com>
Subject: Krabi Boat Lagoon Lat. North 8 degrees 00.7' Long. East 98 degrees 57.7'
Date: 02 May 2014 13:48:28 -0000
From: zmq5985
We arrived at KBL this morning after an uneventful trip from Koh Phi Phi Don. Krabi is on the mainland on the eastern side of the large bay across from Phuket. We had intended to arrive at high tide just after midday but as things turned out we were 3 hours early. However, we continued in paying close attention to the waypoints. We had sufficient water even though the shallowest was 10' a couple of times. The approach was onto a very low lying coastline with no obvious way in for a start. Thank goodness for GPS! We were in touch with the marina on VHF 67 and they sent out a dinghy to meet us because the actual marina entrance is up an obscure side branch of the main river and you would never connect it with the marina because at the point of entrance the marina is still not visible. The published waypoints do not continue to the marina entrance. Going up this final leg was much like the "great grey green greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees" with the spreaders almost in the tree branches. However, all was soon revealed and we were snugged down into our berth. After the formalities of checking in we made contact with Ked of Popeye Marine who will be providing the labour for the work we need doing - Des, her husband isn't well but we hope to be meeting him tomorrow. We have arranged to haul out on Tuesday next week. As we won't be living on board during this time, Ked drove us to look at a couple of accommodation options they had unearthed for us and we have settled on a small apartment about 5 kms from the marina at 4500 Baht per month (NZD161). We have also organised a car for a month at 600 Baht (NZD22) per day fully insured. So, we will be living in a small local village and commuting each day to the marina and that will be a different experience. We can't check in with Customs etc until Wednesday because Monday is another holiday and Tuesday is hauling out. In the meantime we are illegal immigrants!
Today has been a long day with leaving KPPD at 0630 and all that has since happened. Early to bed and then tomorrow begins the task of taking as much stuff off the boat and putting it into storage so that we can give the boat the most thorough spring clean she has ever had. A boatie's life is never dull!!
Cheers again from us.....
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Krabi Boat Lagoon Marina
Thailand.
----- End of Original Message -----
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
To: "2XS - Peter & Marguerite" <pjheadlam@hotmail.com>
Subject: Krabi Boat Lagoon Lat. North 8 degrees 00.7' Long. East 98 degrees 57.7'
Date: 02 May 2014 13:48:28 -0000
From: zmq5985
We arrived at KBL this morning after an uneventful trip from Koh Phi Phi Don. Krabi is on the mainland on the eastern side of the large bay across from Phuket. We had intended to arrive at high tide just after midday but as things turned out we were 3 hours early. However, we continued in paying close attention to the waypoints. We had sufficient water even though the shallowest was 10' a couple of times. The approach was onto a very low lying coastline with no obvious way in for a start. Thank goodness for GPS! We were in touch with the marina on VHF 67 and they sent out a dinghy to meet us because the actual marina entrance is up an obscure side branch of the main river and you would never connect it with the marina because at the point of entrance the marina is still not visible. The published waypoints do not continue to the marina entrance. Going up this final leg was much like the "great grey green greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees" with the spreaders almost in the tree branches. However, all was soon revealed and we were snugged down into our berth. After the formalities of checking in we made contact with Ked of Popeye Marine who will be providing the labour for the work we need doing - Des, her husband isn't well but we hope to be meeting him tomorrow. We have arranged to haul out on Tuesday next week. As we won't be living on board during this time, Ked drove us to look at a couple of accommodation options they had unearthed for us and we have settled on a small apartment about 5 kms from the marina at 4500 Baht per month (NZD161). We have also organised a car for a month at 600 Baht (NZD22) per day fully insured. So, we will be living in a small local village and commuting each day to the marina and that will be a different experience. We can't check in with Customs etc until Wednesday because Monday is another holiday and Tuesday is hauling out. In the meantime we are illegal immigrants!
Today has been a long day with leaving KPPD at 0630 and all that has since happened. Early to bed and then tomorrow begins the task of taking as much stuff off the boat and putting it into storage so that we can give the boat the most thorough spring clean she has ever had. A boatie's life is never dull!!
Cheers again from us.....
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Krabi Boat Lagoon Marina
Thailand.
----- End of Original Message -----
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Fwd: Koh Phi Phi Don Thailand Lat. N. 07 degrees 44.1' Long. E.98 degrees 46.1'
----- Original Message -----
To: "2XS - Peter & Marguerite" <pjheadlam@hotmail.com>
Subject: Koh Phi Phi Don Thailand Lat. N. 07 degrees 44.1' Long. E.98 degrees 46.1'
Date: 02 May 2014 13:03:43 -0000
From: zmq5985
We are now in Thailand, but illegally as we don't clear in until after we arrive at Krabi Boat Lagoon tomorrow. However, don't think it's a problem.
We enjoyed being back in Langkawi but at the same time were glad to be on our way again. It has, like many places, become quite a bit more expensive and the RLYC restaurant and bar are not a patch on what they were previously. However, it appeared that the marina had improved with a long breakwater to minimise the ferry wash which largely seems to work. However, all very lackadaisical with the security person on the marina gate appearing to be asleep most of the time - not sure whether security is actually a problem here or not. And absolutely no interest in evidence of 3rd. party insurance. This latter point really gets up our noses as TPI is not expensive and the consequences of an incident in a marina with boats in close proximity would be potentially devastating. We are particularly conscious of this as we have already been the victim of an uninsured vessel at Kupang in Indonesia.
We amassed a collection of duty free whisky - just an example of prices: a 1 litre bottle of Laphroaig 10 yr old is 150 Ringitts - equivalent to NZD54 ("duty free" in NZ usually well over NZD100) and with mainstream blended whiskies around 35 Ringitts. Can't go past that!
We cleared Customs and Immigration as well as a visit to the Harbourmaster - they just love bits of paper and official looking stamps. The next morning (28/04)we left Langkawi at around 0900 to sail to Koh Tarutao across the Thai/Malaysia border. This was only 35 miles and we anchored in a delightfully sheltered spot between Koh Tarutao and a little offshore island, Koh Klang. Bit of a thunderstorm that night with spectacular lightning flashes and rain coming through the foredeck hatch which woke Jim at 1300!! All par for the course in these waters though.
The next day we left intending to go to Koh Phetra approximately another 30 miles but as we were making good time, decided to press on to Koh Talibong - another 20 miles. At about 9 in the morning we picked up an AIS transmission from "Settlement" who we had sailed with in Australia and had seen in Indonesia and Danga Bay, Johor. But in spite of calling them on as many VHF channels as we could think of and at one point being only a mile away, there was no response!! Disappointing because we had looked forward to a mid passage reunion but anyway we had an email from them later saying that they had been on VHF 17 which isn't normally the main listening channel and was one we hadn't thought of. Never mind, they'll be back up this way in August so we'll see them then. Sailing past Koh Phetra and many other islands was spectacular. They are limestone outcrops, many at least 300 metres high and with vertical cliffs. However, we are at the moment on a bit of a mission but when Tiare is all dolled up again we will be back again to explore in detail. We continued north to Koh Talibong where we anchored in shallow water hopeful of a Dugong sighting but no luck there. We passed an uneventful night and sailed at first light to continue our mission north. It is quite obvious in daylight why one doesn't sail at night with all the flags littering the ocean marking nets, set lines and God knows what. Usually, even in daylight, they are invisible until you are as close as 30 metres or so and when you look ahead through the binnoculars the sea looks impassable for flags! But of course as you get closer there are ways in between but you have to be prepared to use a bit of lateral thinking and alter course as necessary. Constant vigilance is necessary. Only about 5 minutes after leaving we noticed a strong diesel smell and upon lifting the engine box lid the cause was apparent. A small diameter brass pipe which is the return fuel line to the port fuel tank had fractured and was spraying fuel liberally onto the hot engine! So we stopped and anchored to ponder what to do. The area was shallow - barely 30' and very calm. Jim (that great mechanic!!) came up with a solution and that was to use some fuel line as an external sleeve to contain the leak. After much sweating and cursing the job was eventually done and upon restarting the engine there was no leak!! So we continued, checking all the while but we remained leak free!!
Again we had intended to stop earlier at Koh Kradan but, although it seemed a great anchorage and definitely worth a return visit, we decided that as we were making good time we would continue to where we are now - Koh Phi Phi Don. Koh Lanta had been another potential stop on our list of possibles but we carried on. From here Krabi Boat Lagoon is only 25 miles.
Incidentally, in Thai "koh" means island, just as in Bahasa Malaysia "pulau" means the same thing.
We arrived here mid afternoon after motoring the whole way averaging over 6 knots. Little wind and what there was right on the nose. Quite a mission to find anywhere to anchor as the bay is full of cruise and dive boat moorings with few gaps. However, we eventually found somewhere which wasn't ideal and subject to large wakes from boat skippers who have never heard of the 5 knot rule. Big speedboats with 3 x 250 h.p. engines flat out are not uncommon. Also large ferries from Phuket who don't slow from cruising speed until they are almost at the wharf. "Kularoo", the Australian catamaran who we had sailed with across the Northern Territory coast and who had towed us when we had the first of our fuel pump problems, was already here. But unfortunately the sight of them just brought back all the negative experiences we had suffered at the hands of some very nasty and ignorant people after the dragging episode at Kupang. Not that we have anything against Bill (the owner). Quite the reverse. We liked him from the outset and still have great respect for him, but we feel that he has possibly been seduced by other negative people close to him and we find that most regrettable. Hopefully one day we will have the opportunity to speak to him on his own and clear any misunderstandings. "Kularoo" left this morning before there had been any chance to get together.
Later this morning we launched the dinghy and went ashore to have breakfast and to find a Wifi establishment where we could send a few emails as for some reason not apparent we haven't been able to send anything via Sailmail using the HF radio. No doubt we'll get to the bottom of that after we've hauled out. We achieved both aims at the Cabana Hotel and then returned to Tiare as she was lying a bit closer to some rough looking charter boats than we were happy with. So we pulled up the anchor and after going around in circles for a bit we re-anchored in a much better spot (where "Kularoo" had been in fact!!!) and Jim has spent the rest of the time ogling bikini clad figures going past in dive boats and writing this blog for your great edification!!!
We must say though, that in spite of boat wakes and moorings, Ton Sai Bay on Koh Phi Phi Don is a spectacular anchorage with high vertical cliffs and a glorious white sand beach. We'll regale you with more in our next blog from Krabi.
Cheers again from us on this beautiful day of May 1st........
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Koh Phi Phi Don
----- End of Original Message -----
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
To: "2XS - Peter & Marguerite" <pjheadlam@hotmail.com>
Subject: Koh Phi Phi Don Thailand Lat. N. 07 degrees 44.1' Long. E.98 degrees 46.1'
Date: 02 May 2014 13:03:43 -0000
From: zmq5985
We are now in Thailand, but illegally as we don't clear in until after we arrive at Krabi Boat Lagoon tomorrow. However, don't think it's a problem.
We enjoyed being back in Langkawi but at the same time were glad to be on our way again. It has, like many places, become quite a bit more expensive and the RLYC restaurant and bar are not a patch on what they were previously. However, it appeared that the marina had improved with a long breakwater to minimise the ferry wash which largely seems to work. However, all very lackadaisical with the security person on the marina gate appearing to be asleep most of the time - not sure whether security is actually a problem here or not. And absolutely no interest in evidence of 3rd. party insurance. This latter point really gets up our noses as TPI is not expensive and the consequences of an incident in a marina with boats in close proximity would be potentially devastating. We are particularly conscious of this as we have already been the victim of an uninsured vessel at Kupang in Indonesia.
We amassed a collection of duty free whisky - just an example of prices: a 1 litre bottle of Laphroaig 10 yr old is 150 Ringitts - equivalent to NZD54 ("duty free" in NZ usually well over NZD100) and with mainstream blended whiskies around 35 Ringitts. Can't go past that!
We cleared Customs and Immigration as well as a visit to the Harbourmaster - they just love bits of paper and official looking stamps. The next morning (28/04)we left Langkawi at around 0900 to sail to Koh Tarutao across the Thai/Malaysia border. This was only 35 miles and we anchored in a delightfully sheltered spot between Koh Tarutao and a little offshore island, Koh Klang. Bit of a thunderstorm that night with spectacular lightning flashes and rain coming through the foredeck hatch which woke Jim at 1300!! All par for the course in these waters though.
The next day we left intending to go to Koh Phetra approximately another 30 miles but as we were making good time, decided to press on to Koh Talibong - another 20 miles. At about 9 in the morning we picked up an AIS transmission from "Settlement" who we had sailed with in Australia and had seen in Indonesia and Danga Bay, Johor. But in spite of calling them on as many VHF channels as we could think of and at one point being only a mile away, there was no response!! Disappointing because we had looked forward to a mid passage reunion but anyway we had an email from them later saying that they had been on VHF 17 which isn't normally the main listening channel and was one we hadn't thought of. Never mind, they'll be back up this way in August so we'll see them then. Sailing past Koh Phetra and many other islands was spectacular. They are limestone outcrops, many at least 300 metres high and with vertical cliffs. However, we are at the moment on a bit of a mission but when Tiare is all dolled up again we will be back again to explore in detail. We continued north to Koh Talibong where we anchored in shallow water hopeful of a Dugong sighting but no luck there. We passed an uneventful night and sailed at first light to continue our mission north. It is quite obvious in daylight why one doesn't sail at night with all the flags littering the ocean marking nets, set lines and God knows what. Usually, even in daylight, they are invisible until you are as close as 30 metres or so and when you look ahead through the binnoculars the sea looks impassable for flags! But of course as you get closer there are ways in between but you have to be prepared to use a bit of lateral thinking and alter course as necessary. Constant vigilance is necessary. Only about 5 minutes after leaving we noticed a strong diesel smell and upon lifting the engine box lid the cause was apparent. A small diameter brass pipe which is the return fuel line to the port fuel tank had fractured and was spraying fuel liberally onto the hot engine! So we stopped and anchored to ponder what to do. The area was shallow - barely 30' and very calm. Jim (that great mechanic!!) came up with a solution and that was to use some fuel line as an external sleeve to contain the leak. After much sweating and cursing the job was eventually done and upon restarting the engine there was no leak!! So we continued, checking all the while but we remained leak free!!
Again we had intended to stop earlier at Koh Kradan but, although it seemed a great anchorage and definitely worth a return visit, we decided that as we were making good time we would continue to where we are now - Koh Phi Phi Don. Koh Lanta had been another potential stop on our list of possibles but we carried on. From here Krabi Boat Lagoon is only 25 miles.
Incidentally, in Thai "koh" means island, just as in Bahasa Malaysia "pulau" means the same thing.
We arrived here mid afternoon after motoring the whole way averaging over 6 knots. Little wind and what there was right on the nose. Quite a mission to find anywhere to anchor as the bay is full of cruise and dive boat moorings with few gaps. However, we eventually found somewhere which wasn't ideal and subject to large wakes from boat skippers who have never heard of the 5 knot rule. Big speedboats with 3 x 250 h.p. engines flat out are not uncommon. Also large ferries from Phuket who don't slow from cruising speed until they are almost at the wharf. "Kularoo", the Australian catamaran who we had sailed with across the Northern Territory coast and who had towed us when we had the first of our fuel pump problems, was already here. But unfortunately the sight of them just brought back all the negative experiences we had suffered at the hands of some very nasty and ignorant people after the dragging episode at Kupang. Not that we have anything against Bill (the owner). Quite the reverse. We liked him from the outset and still have great respect for him, but we feel that he has possibly been seduced by other negative people close to him and we find that most regrettable. Hopefully one day we will have the opportunity to speak to him on his own and clear any misunderstandings. "Kularoo" left this morning before there had been any chance to get together.
Later this morning we launched the dinghy and went ashore to have breakfast and to find a Wifi establishment where we could send a few emails as for some reason not apparent we haven't been able to send anything via Sailmail using the HF radio. No doubt we'll get to the bottom of that after we've hauled out. We achieved both aims at the Cabana Hotel and then returned to Tiare as she was lying a bit closer to some rough looking charter boats than we were happy with. So we pulled up the anchor and after going around in circles for a bit we re-anchored in a much better spot (where "Kularoo" had been in fact!!!) and Jim has spent the rest of the time ogling bikini clad figures going past in dive boats and writing this blog for your great edification!!!
We must say though, that in spite of boat wakes and moorings, Ton Sai Bay on Koh Phi Phi Don is a spectacular anchorage with high vertical cliffs and a glorious white sand beach. We'll regale you with more in our next blog from Krabi.
Cheers again from us on this beautiful day of May 1st........
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Koh Phi Phi Don
----- End of Original Message -----
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